Keeping the Goal in Sight

by Gordon Cooper

From Broader View Weekly, July 29, 2010

Within the great scheme of nature’s design, one aspect has proven to be the driving force that compels organisms and organizations to greater achievements and superior performance. That aspect is Competition.

Competition for limited resources forces individuals and industries to sharpen their skills or suffer the consequences. For those of us who are enjoying the luxuries of newer, faster, better, and less expensive products like cell phones, computers, TV’s, cars, MP3 players, etc. we can thank competition within the marketplace. For those of us who follow or participate in sports and marvel at the achievements we see in others or experience within ourselves, we can thank competition.

Competition tends to bring us increased quality and lower prices, lack of competition and monopolies tend to stifle innovation and hinder progress. This should go without saying, but I feel it must be said in light of my fellow columnist’s defense of the status quo when it comes to public education and its funding.

First of all, I must clarify a few things in Keith’s column. I did not express, nor do I have, a desire for a “weakening of the current public system.” On the contrary, I want to see an improvement of the system, because, while I do and did choose to educate my children at home (well, my wife did most of the educating – I merely assisted) and I have spent some very beneficial years teaching in a private school, I still have a stake in improving the quality of public education. The health of our society depends upon an educated citizenry and I do believe public education is within the charge of our constitution’s mandate to “promote the general welfare” of our nation.

Furthermore, I did not “indict” the public school as a failure. For I am also a product of the public school system and I believe there are many dedicated teachers who make daily sacrifices for the sake of their students.

I do agree with Keith’s conclusions in his final paragraphs where he states that we should hold boards and districts accountable and we should demand that taxpayers’ dollars be well spent. It is in that agreement that I want to make the following suggestions.

Keith mentions that charter schools and voucher programs – otherwise known as school choice – would diminish the quality of public schools. However, as stated above, competition tends to improve quality and this is true in the area of education as well.
A study published by National Bureau of Economic Research bears this out. Following the introduction of charter schools in North Carolina, a survey of test scores for grades three through eight was done, and to their surprise the researchers found that “charter school competition raised the composite test scores in district schools…the gain was roughly two to five times greater than the gain from decreasing the student/faculty ratio by one.”

Not only has the quality of public education been raised by charter schools, another study done by the New York Charter School Association has found that per student spending within school districts actually increased after the introduction of charter schools. In Albany’s district, per student spending increased by 31% while enrollment decreased by 5%. Buffalo’s school district increased its per student funding by 8% while enrollment fell by 13%. The conclusion of the report was that without charter schools the districts would have suffered a drop in per student spending.

As far as the performance of students from charter schools, Keith refers to one study from Stanford that shows an underperformance in many areas. However, what Keith did not say is that in 44 studies that have been reviewed, 18 reports were found to be nothing more than “snapshots” of performance at one or more points in time. The remaining 26 studies followed trends over long periods of time and found overall gains were larger than non-charter schools.
So, if the goal is to have an educated citizen for the least amount of money, then it would make sense that we should welcome a little competition in the field.

Keith also suggests that we should look at the role of teachers’ unions in budget negotiations. I couldn’t agree more. According to a published report by the Center for Responsive Politics, the National Education Association is listed as one of the top ten “Heavy Hitters” in lobbying and political contributions. The report states they have given over $30,000,000 to politicians (93% to Democrats) in the past two decades in the effort to limit school choice and retain the status quo –despite rising costs and failing performance.

In conclusion, let me say that competition for resources is not the only driving force that nature’s designer has endowed us with. He has also shown us that when a common goal is desired competition and cooperation can work together to improve the chances of achieving that goal. We should encourage both in the area of public education. I propose we eliminate the hindrances to school choice and promote cooperation and competition between public, charter, private and even home-centered schools.